8 ms·

I for one would love a company that rents out “ragged out” vehicles for bottom dollar. A well maintained toyota etc. lasts 20 years. Rent me the fully depreciat

I for one would love a company that rents out “ragged out” vehicles for bottom dollar. A well maintained toyota etc. lasts 20 years. Rent me the fully depreciated vehicle and reap pure profit. Not to mention not worrying about every little dent or scratch. Sounds like a dream rental to me. Side note: when renting in other countries, I always ask for the worst looking beat up car that they have. Really is less stressful to drive around.

mikeInAlaska 3y ago
We rented from a place called SAD CARS in Iceland. The car... worked for our entire trip.
- Filligree 3y ago
  The way you said that worries me... were there other issues?
saalweachter 3y ago
Isn't that the premise of Rent-a-Wreck?
tech4all 3y ago
Agreed! In the US there is a company that does this but they don’t have a nationwide presence: https://www.rentawreck.com/ https://www.rentawreck.com/. Also in Iceland there is “Sad Car” which was great for kicking around.
- FireBeyond 3y ago
  There was one in Australia when I was there, Rent A Bomb.
- avar 3y ago
  When did you rent with SADCars? I did once in 2014, and cheaply got some small old manual beater, which was just perfect. But I think they've "pivoted" to just another rental company since then. Looking at their website and Google maps reviews the cars now look new, and indistinguishable from what you'd get from Eurocar, Hertz etc.
  - ydant 3y ago
    I rented in 2015 and it was an experience. I had to turn down the first car due to non-functioning wipers and a broken door handle. Ended up with a Subaru Forester that had definitely seen a lot of miles and had its share of minor issues, but was a beast in the surprise blizzard. Shame if they pivoted but their office was a pain to deal with and last thing you want after a red-eye is to be worried about the car maybe not actually working properly. Decided next time we'd just rent from a more established brand. From their FAQ: > However, we decided to use the name to make it more memorable as our cars used to be older in the beginning but it's been many years since we stopped using old cars and now all our cars are new, or one or two years old
- mcguire 3y ago
  In the 90s, RentAWreck at least used to be part of an operation called FixAWreck who did low cost auto repairs. I used them shortly after I'd moved and had an excellent time with the two sub-compacts they gave me while my car was in their shop.
jasonpeacock 3y ago
There used to be "rent a dent" discount car rentals that did exactly this. You could save a bunch by renting a clearly used (and usually scuffed/dented) car. I agree about driving a brand-new rental being stressful. I don't to worry about little scratches and dings, especially when you're driving an unfamiliar car in a foreign place.
dazc 3y ago
There was a business in the UK doing this but didn't work out any cheaper than a regular rental from Enterprise. Economy of scale at such a level is hard to beat.
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  It's not economy of scale - they get to write off depreciation at a much higher rate than the cars actually depreciate. This is true of all businesses and all capital. It's a great big tax cheat, centered around companies getting to claim that their capital is worthless after just a few years.
  - votepaunchy 3y ago
    How is this a “tax cheat” and not simply a tax deferral? Businesses can deduct expenses, and accelerated depreciation is not increased depreciation.
  - IshKebab 3y ago
    How would that actually help long term though? Imagine they write off their entire entire fleet in 1 year. Yes they pay less tax that year, but in future years when they sell their old cars that are worth nothing for lots of money they'll have a load of extra tax to pay. I can see how it lets you move tax around in time a bit but that's it (and it's often allowed explicitly anyway). Am I missing something or is this the common "tax write-off = magical money" misunderstanding?
    - graemep 3y ago
      On top of that the business referred to was a UK one and that means max 18%/year on ICE cars (6% if high CO2 emissions).
bittercynic 3y ago
It's been a little while, but I've used Turo for this a few times. Got older, rattier cars for $20-$25/day, and way less hassle than trying to deal with Hertz/Budget/etc. It was perfect for my needs.
KennyBlanken 3y ago
With a clean, damage-free car, you know there isn't anything on the car you can be blamed for that you didn't put there yourself. I used to do zipcar and I would always do a full walk-around and email zipcar support a set of photos of any and all damage I'd find before I'd even unlocked the vehicle so there was proof the damage wasn't caused by me. I did this after Zipcar claimed a dent that was already on the car was put there by me, because a prior renter didn't disclose it, or zipcar was double-dipping. Finding a clean, undamaged car was a relief because I knew I could take photos afterward It got particularly annoying because after the first 4-5 years zipcar clearly cut back on maintenance and repairs. Cars kept getting dirtier, more damaged, more "weird noises from the suspension", etc. Cars would be overdue for oil changes, have check engine lights on, etc.
brewdad 3y ago
Budget/Avis is getting there. I had an absolutely horrible rental at O'Hare about five years ago. Rattles and squeaks and probably 50,000 miles overdue for an alignment. Last fall, I got an almost new Mazda SUV from Avis. I was 3 miles down the road when a Service Engine Soon message took over the entire center of the dashboard. I hope they got it serviced after I returned it the next day.
paulddraper 3y ago
You can do this with Turo.

mikeInAlaska 3y ago

We rented from a place called SAD CARS in Iceland. The car... worked for our entire trip.

Filligree 3y ago
The way you said that worries me... were there other issues?

saalweachter 3y ago

Isn't that the premise of Rent-a-Wreck?

tech4all 3y ago

Agreed! In the US there is a company that does this but they don’t have a nationwide presence: https://www.rentawreck.com/ https://www.rentawreck.com/. Also in Iceland there is “Sad Car” which was great for kicking around.

FireBeyond 3y ago
There was one in Australia when I was there, Rent A Bomb.
avar 3y ago
When did you rent with SADCars? I did once in 2014, and cheaply got some small old manual beater, which was just perfect. But I think they've "pivoted" to just another rental company since then. Looking at their website and Google maps reviews the cars now look new, and indistinguishable from what you'd get from Eurocar, Hertz etc.
- ydant 3y ago
  I rented in 2015 and it was an experience. I had to turn down the first car due to non-functioning wipers and a broken door handle. Ended up with a Subaru Forester that had definitely seen a lot of miles and had its share of minor issues, but was a beast in the surprise blizzard. Shame if they pivoted but their office was a pain to deal with and last thing you want after a red-eye is to be worried about the car maybe not actually working properly. Decided next time we'd just rent from a more established brand. From their FAQ: > However, we decided to use the name to make it more memorable as our cars used to be older in the beginning but it's been many years since we stopped using old cars and now all our cars are new, or one or two years old
mcguire 3y ago
In the 90s, RentAWreck at least used to be part of an operation called FixAWreck who did low cost auto repairs. I used them shortly after I'd moved and had an excellent time with the two sub-compacts they gave me while my car was in their shop.

jasonpeacock 3y ago

There used to be "rent a dent" discount car rentals that did exactly this. You could save a bunch by renting a clearly used (and usually scuffed/dented) car. I agree about driving a brand-new rental being stressful. I don't to worry about little scratches and dings, especially when you're driving an unfamiliar car in a foreign place.

dazc 3y ago

There was a business in the UK doing this but didn't work out any cheaper than a regular rental from Enterprise. Economy of scale at such a level is hard to beat.

KennyBlanken 3y ago
It's not economy of scale - they get to write off depreciation at a much higher rate than the cars actually depreciate. This is true of all businesses and all capital. It's a great big tax cheat, centered around companies getting to claim that their capital is worthless after just a few years.
- votepaunchy 3y ago
  How is this a “tax cheat” and not simply a tax deferral? Businesses can deduct expenses, and accelerated depreciation is not increased depreciation.
- IshKebab 3y ago
  How would that actually help long term though? Imagine they write off their entire entire fleet in 1 year. Yes they pay less tax that year, but in future years when they sell their old cars that are worth nothing for lots of money they'll have a load of extra tax to pay. I can see how it lets you move tax around in time a bit but that's it (and it's often allowed explicitly anyway). Am I missing something or is this the common "tax write-off = magical money" misunderstanding?
  - graemep 3y ago
    On top of that the business referred to was a UK one and that means max 18%/year on ICE cars (6% if high CO2 emissions).

bittercynic 3y ago

It's been a little while, but I've used Turo for this a few times. Got older, rattier cars for $20-$25/day, and way less hassle than trying to deal with Hertz/Budget/etc. It was perfect for my needs.

KennyBlanken 3y ago

With a clean, damage-free car, you know there isn't anything on the car you can be blamed for that you didn't put there yourself. I used to do zipcar and I would always do a full walk-around and email zipcar support a set of photos of any and all damage I'd find before I'd even unlocked the vehicle so there was proof the damage wasn't caused by me. I did this after Zipcar claimed a dent that was already on the car was put there by me, because a prior renter didn't disclose it, or zipcar was double-dipping. Finding a clean, undamaged car was a relief because I knew I could take photos afterward It got particularly annoying because after the first 4-5 years zipcar clearly cut back on maintenance and repairs. Cars kept getting dirtier, more damaged, more "weird noises from the suspension", etc. Cars would be overdue for oil changes, have check engine lights on, etc.

brewdad 3y ago

Budget/Avis is getting there. I had an absolutely horrible rental at O'Hare about five years ago. Rattles and squeaks and probably 50,000 miles overdue for an alignment. Last fall, I got an almost new Mazda SUV from Avis. I was 3 miles down the road when a Service Engine Soon message took over the entire center of the dashboard. I hope they got it serviced after I returned it the next day.

paulddraper 3y ago

You can do this with Turo.